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ACE Season Ends on Exmoor

Rob Howard / 21.09.2005

It was a cold Friday night camping out on the hillside above Wimbleball Lake in preparation for the 3rd and final 2-day ACE Race of the year. In the morning the first frost of the year covered the grass and tents, and though the lake was hidden under a dense patch of low cloud the clear skies promised a warm, sunny day on Exmoor.

The race was full and competitors had to ride the 3km to the start at White Post Cross, a country lane crossroads where the 16.3km Cycle Endurance stage was their first challenge. It didn’t take them long to appreciate just how steep the surrounding hills were (though some ‘forgot’ about this when they cycled back later in the day), and one pair was spotted asking a local for directions to the start!

Once underway the obvious route was directly North towards the stage finish on the steep side of Dunkery Beacon, taking care at the dangerous crossroads at Wheddon Cross, which was well marshalled. Despite the direct route, and the company of several hundred riders Gill Watson still managed to go the wrong way – not the best start to her attempt to catch Karen McDonald in the race for the Series title.

The quickest riders were well inside the estimate of 45 minutes, with Mark Hartell taking just 33 minutes. Others took much longer, with the slowest teams walking up the hill to the stage finish and taking well over an hour. Team 316, Richard Torley & Andrew Edwards did well to finish at all after ‘losing’ a pedal right at the start, and riding up the hill with a combination of partner-pushing and one-legged riding!

The checkpoint was just over the crest of the hill and the reaction of most competitors when they looked up and saw the views of the Devon and Welsh coasts was “Wow!� It was quite a view, and they had time to stop and look for a minute, as it was only 5 minutes downhill to the Transition, with 30 minutes allowed before they had to start the X-Country/Mtb stage.

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